Lou No More . . .

I spent most of the morning getting a handle on my next big project at work – bundling up the two website/shopping carts on our in-house Linux server and moving it all up to Godaddy in the cloud.

There seems to be two schools of thought on how to do it. The first is to do a complete Zen Cart installation on the new server and then copy all the MySQL files from the old server, and move them over.

The second is to zip up the entire website and move it over lock, stock, barrel, and database to the new server. Both have different pros and cons, so I’ve got a lot of research to do.

I’ve mentioned that I’m reading a book entitledNomadland, about itinerant RV’ers traveling from job to job around the country. One of them, a guy named Don who travels in the his1990 Airstream with his Jack Russell terrier, Rizzo, was once a highly paid software executive making millions a year.

Retiring in 2002, he indulged his lifetime passion with fast cars and racing, ranking third overall in the U.S. Touring Car Championship pro series. But by 2008 he had lost it all. Between a divorce and the 2008 market crash taking his savings, he was broke. So he hit the road in 2010, joining the workamper force.

I found his description of workampers to be fascinating.

“Workampers are modern mobile travelers who take temporary jobs around the U.S. in exchange for a free campsite—usually including power, water and sewer connections—and perhaps a stipend. You may think that workamping is a modern phenomenon, but we come from a long, long tradition. We followed the Roman legions, sharpening swords and repairing armor. We roamed the new cities of America, fixing clocks and machines, repairing cookware, building stone walls for a penny a foot and all the hard cider we could drink. We followed the emigration west in our wagons with our tools and skills, sharpening knives, fixing anything that was broken, helping clear the land, roof the cabin, plow the fields and bring in the harvest for a meal and pocket money, then moving on to the next job. Our forebears are the tinkers. We have upgraded the tinker’s wagon to a comfortable motor coach or fifth-wheel trailer. Mostly retired now, we have added to our repertoire the skills of a lifetime in business. We can help run your shop, handle the front or back of the house, drive your trucks and forklifts, pick and pack your goods for shipment, fix your machines, coddle your computers and networks, work your beet harvest, landscape your grounds or clean your bathrooms. We are the techno-tinkers.”

Really insightful.

About 2pm Jan and I headed into Webster to have lunch at our favorite King Food. Jan got the fan-favorite Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce and Jalapenos lunch plate,

while I again went with the big bowl of Hot & Soup Soup.

One thing I really like at King Food are these roasted red pepper flakes. Most places, including Italian restaurants, have them in this form.

But King Food roasts them in a skillet with a little oil with gives them a smoky taste and a crunchy texture.

Really good, so I always add a few spoonful’s to my Hot & Sour.

After a great lunch we drove over to Baywood Plaza on FM518 so I could get my hair cut at Lou’s Barber Shop. I’ve been going to Lou for more than 30 years, since he first opened there.

So I was very surprised to not find Lou there behind his chair, the first time that’s ever happened. When I ask the guy who was behind the chair if Lou was taking the day off, I was very surprised when he said that Lou had retired, and that he and his wife, Esthela, had bought the shop from him. And that the shop would soon be called Esthela’s Barber Shop.

Well I guess I can live with going to a barber shop called Esthela’s. My only problem is that Lou apparently forgot to give my haircut records to the new guy.